While Head Over Heels retained traces of the metallic postpunk nihilism that defined their first album and early singles, Treasure finds the Cocteau Twins firmly planted in their next big phase; floating in Robin Guthrie’s pillowy reverb and chorus, Liz Fraser’s soaring lyrical heiroglyphs and new recruit Simon Raymonde’s swirling DX7 strings and bass guitar. When I was first digging into the Cocteaus, the sample nerd in me wouldn’t allow me to truly get into this album because of the same chopped up “When The Levee Breaks” drums used on every single track - I bet they thought they were pretty clever at the time (Robin Guthrie has since referred to this record as “an abortion”). So I subsisted on a steady diet of Head Over Heels and Victorialand for years and years. Eventually I woke the hell up and realized that Treasure sports some of the most brilliant songwriting (“Beatrix,” “Pandora,” “Amelia,” “Ivo” named after 4AD jefe Ivo Watts-Russell) and original production (the proto-Twin Peaks vibes of “Otterley” and “Donimo”) in their catalog. “Lorelei” is still too sweet for my tastes, but it’s perhaps the best example of this phase of the band's sound. Treasure is the light at the end of the tunnel for goths everywhere; Robert Smith even confessed to listening to it while he got dressed on his wedding day! This 180g remastered pressing sounds fantastic, and marks the first time the album has ever been available in the US. Highly recommended.